Happy Birthday, part 1
by kissmesoftlytillidie
Summary: Yama is all grown up now. Soon she will marry the determined prince of Egypt. When a conversation of wits turns into a discovery of her grandmother's relationship with Atem, she sees a side of him she'd never known existed. How can she restore his glory?


When Yama asks about her grandmother:

Happy Birthday:

Yamket had been a princess from the moment she was born. By the time her husband Atem had been born, she was a queen. Yama was the same way. She'd always been preparing for the time of her marriage, and now that she'd had a year of moon-times, she knew she would marry soon. So she began to ask her grandfather questions about the man she'd marry.

"Who is it?" she asked often. Her grandfather just smiled and there was a teasing in his soft strong eyes.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"

"Is it Mokuhamun, my cousin the son of the high priest?" she asked him, leaning her cheek on his knees and gazing up at him.

"Maybe. But he is to young to be declared prince of Egypt." He chuckled and leaning against one side of his throne, smiled wider, his dark eyes meeting hers.

"You were younger."

"But that was only because your grandfather died, and then your grandfather shortly after."

"What is is like to be married? Did you love my grandmother?" She frowned at his smile.

"Yes, I loved her very much. I knew I loved her before I was born."

"But you didn't know her then. She was older then you."

"Indeed. However, when I was one, I had a vision of her. I saw her as an infant, and I heard my father saying 'This is your queen.'" He sighed, reminising.

"How is that possible?" Yama asked, bluntly. All of a sudden he began to laugh wildly. I wanted to laugh with him, it was infectious, but she was also very angry. "It's not funny!"

"No, you're right, it's not." He chuckled one last time and leaned back in his throne. "But your grandmother asked me the same thing on our wedding night. All I could tell her is that I don't know. I still don't... but I think it was a gift from Ra. Back then, I didn't know that I was going to be pharaoh. But still he knew."

"How old was my grandmother when she married you?"

"She was twenty-seven summers, and I fifteen. It was the hottest part of summer. You weren't born then, and her husband had just died. I didn't think she'd love me... It was wonderful, having her to adore and worship. It made being king bearable when Bakura came to fight. She was a great queen." He sighed, and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me onto his lap. "But don't listen to an old fool like me. You should be outside, laughing and playing with your cousins, not inside with stuffy men."

"You aren't old!" she exclaimed, counting on her fingers. "You were sixteen when I was born, and I'm thirteen summers now, so that means... You're twenty-nine summers. Okay, that's old. Wait," I looked up at him quickly. "That means!"

"Yes. Tomorrow, on her birthday, I will be older then her finally. I thought she was always going to be the one who was the voice of reason, the older one. See, before she was my wife, she was my sister. Before I was prince, I was her little brother. Without her and my father, anything could have happened."

"Grandfather," Yama began to cry. She wrapped her hands around his chest, squeezing lightly. "You're so silly."

"Indeed," he told her, and he was crying as well. "But having only two years together was our destiny. I can not deny destiny, after the war with Bakura and after raising you." Tears fell on her shoulder, and he was trembling. "Oh, my dear Yama, what can I do?"

It was hard, for her to see her grandfather like this. Where was the strong Pharaoh who raised her on his own and rebuilt Egypt after the worse war in history while at the same time defeating the greatest evil ever known to mankind? He had been reduced to a puddle of goo. She sobbed into his chest, and they remained crying for a while, missing the person who had brought them together. "Grandfather!"

"Yama!" He grabbed her so hard she thought they would burst with overflowing emotions.

"Sorry to interrupt." came a harsh voice from behind her. She turned to see her great uncle, the high priest of Egypt. "But I need to talk to the Pharaoh."

Yama nodded, feeling rediculous for crying in the throne room. "Good bye, Grandfather."

"Good bye Yama. Thank you for indulging an old man."

"Any time." She smiled through her tears, then walked off, determined to find out what to do for her grandfather tomorrow.

"Mokuhamun, Captain! We have work to do!" 


End file.
